Bold owner switched to Droid - First 24hrs(long)

Hey there,
If anyone out there is as much a die-hard blackberry user as I am(was?) then you were looking for this post.

I was using BB for 5 yrs on ATT and I loved it. I am also someone who is used to getting a new phone every 4-6 months because I get bored really easily. That being said, I had my Bold for just a bit over a year since the day it came out Nov 4th. I had tried to replace it a couple times but none of the phones excited me and I went back to the Bold. However, Ive been waiting for something new since the Bold 2 was announced back in June and its taken forever for anything to be released on ATT.

Over the past year ATT has lost ground as the premier smartphone carrier. They used to have all the latest and greatest. Now they are just behind the times. I was even waiting for the TP2/Tilt2 to be released but apparently thats just taking forever too.

Ok, so I have absolutely nothing bad to say about ATT with my Bold. I absolutely loved the service. Rarely if never had any failed calls or issues. I would, and plan to, go back to them in a heartbeat. Everyone complaining about ATT is usually on an iphone(its not the service, its the phone!)

So I took the plunge yesterday and switched to VZW for the Droid. I was extremely worried that Id miss everything a Blackberry could do for me. I am happy to report I'm about 95% satisfied with the switch.

First off, Id like to say that the phone is absolutely awesome. I do plan on probably getting the HTC Passion/HD2 if it comes out for VZW but only because I need the latest and greatest. Plus, and this might be a shocker, the keyboard does nothing for me on this phone(read:I dont even use it).

Yes, I was so worried that I was going to miss the easy typing of the qwerty Bold keyboard(that was the best Ive ever used). But with the on screen keyboard(and Im talking just vertical, not landscape) I am typing faster and cleaner than on the bold. Yes, you read that right. Ill repeat that, I type faster and with less mistakes on the screen keyboard than on my Bold. I actually have more mistakes when I use the landscape one or the pullout keyboard. I am flying through texts with this phone and I couldn't be happier.

Web browsing is not a chore anymore either. The OEM browser on the Droid is fantastic. I didn't even feel the need to download Opera or any aftermarket one. Double tapping is fine for me to use when zooming in. Seriously, if people really need to complain that you cant pinch to zoom then that must mean its hard to find things to complain about with this phone.

I thought I would miss BBM but as of yet, I don't, at all. Everyone who I had on there texts me now. Big woop. Everyone pretty much has unlimited texts these days anyway. Most OS's also wrap text conversations anyway so I can see the whole conversation on the Droid. Nothing really lost. The new BBM was cool with the barcode and group chat but you know what, sometimes its nice to not be in a group chat on a phone. If I wanted that, Id just head back to the forum. Grievance over.

Also, I found a lot of the same applications I had used on my BB through the marketplace like Pandora, iTrader for stocks, Password keeper(that was a huge find) etc. The only application I sorely miss is Viigo. I found a sorta good news reader but its nowhere as neat and organized as Viigo. Other than that though, I found a ton of applications that I didn't have on my BB which are just absolutely amazing(and free). And I'm not talking about stupid light sabers or shake-to-fart apps, I mean actually useful apps.

Blackberry Bold had great voice quality but using the Droid is like using a landline. I don't know if its verizons service, the noise cancellation feature or the phone itself. Regardless, its great. And its comfortable to hold at the same time, not hard to find the sweetspot.

Ok, now lets talk about what I miss about the BB.

First off, I miss the ability to easily assign specific rings to groups. I used to have family, work, friends etc. listed with specific ring tones so I would know who was calling. You cant do groups on the Droid but you can do specific ring tone. For that though, you have to go to each contact and set it, which can be really annoying when you have over 100 contacts.

On the same note, I miss the ability to assign tones, rings, vibrations to each notification from the phone. This phone didn't even have profiles until I downloaded an app that created them. Really tough to switch to vibrate mode from loud mode if you went into a meeting or something. I also cant just assign ring to phone and vibrate to everything else. Maybe its there or I need another app, but I'm just saying whats bugging me so far. Whats weird is it finds the ringtones that I put on the SD card to assign for ringtones(although it has all my sounds as an option for that) but it cant find them when doing notifications for anything else other than a phone call. I have to use factory sounds for them and they all suck, to be blunt.

Ok, what else. Oh yeah, apparently I live in the one deadzone for VZW 3g service. I bounce from 1x to 1 bar 3g all the time in my house. I never lost 3g once with my ATT anywhere in my area. I have yet to see full bars on the Droid anywhere. Not sure if its VZW or the phone but this has me slightly worried. However, I have yet to have interrupted service or slow browsing speeds so maybe I'm worrying too much.

I miss the bedside mode from the BB when you plugged it in the charger. I used my Bold as my clock when sleeping and the Droid doesn't have that. There is a charging dock coming out that seems to have some sort of magnetic way of turning on a bedside mode. We shall see.

Oh, yeah, I forgot. I dont think its me but I cant figure out how to get into the vidoes Ive put onto the SD card. Seriously, there is no internal video watching app that I can find on this thing. Very weird and if I missed it, please help me out here. Also, in regards to the SD card, I liked how the blackberry gave you folders when connected to the computer. There is nothing like that on the Droid. I created folders on the SD card hoping it would work. It found the ringtones and pictures but not the videos(see prior complaint though). About that though, it would be nice if I could get into the folders on the actual phone for digging around purposes.

It may sound like I have a lot of complaints about the phone but I'm chalking it up to a new OS, never using the phone before, and probably finding apps to help me with most of the stuff. But it takes a lot for me to stick with a phone and I feel I'm going to have this one for a while(at least 6 months lol).

Feel free to post up any questions or comments if you're worried about taking the plunge to the phone. Ill try to answer everything as best as I can.

I just switched from a slew of blackberries after 4 years and I'm not looking back. I have had my droid for just over 24hrs now as well. I can compromise with the things I miss from my bb, which are mostly similar to yours, for all the great features that come with the droid. I to live in an area where my coverage is a little spotty, I get 3g, but only about 350kbit/s. Still more than enough to load any web page that I want but when I'm home I just hook up to my wifi and no issues what so ever. The last bb I had was a Storm 2 and it's wifi was awful.

I think in time, once the developers have had a while to either come up with new apps or convert old apps to 2.0 the phone will be amazing. I to might also be switching to the Passion because I don't use the physical keyboard AT ALL. I downloaded better keyboard for 3 bucks and it makes typing on the already easy onscreen keyboard even easier.

I miss the bedside mode from the BB when you plugged it in the charger. I used my Bold as my clock when sleeping and the Droid doesn't have that. There is a charging dock coming out that seems to have some sort of magnetic way of turning on a bedside mode. We shall see.

Oh, yeah, I forgot. I dont think its me but I cant figure out how to get into the vidoes Ive put onto the SD card. Seriously, there is no internal video watching app that I can find on this thing. Very weird and if I missed it, please help me out here. Also, in regards to the SD card, I liked how the blackberry gave you folders when connected to the computer. There is nothing like that on the Droid. I created folders on the SD card hoping it would work. It found the ringtones and pictures but not the videos(see prior complaint though). About that though, it would be nice if I could get into the folders on the actual phone for digging around purposes.

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I can help you out with these two of your nits

DockRunner is a new free app that puts the Droid into the Dock Mode without the dock. That will give you a great alarm clock with the droid. You may even be able to have Locale kick it off whenever you are charging the phone (I don't know thought).

The video player in Android 2.0 is under the Gallery app. It is crude, but works. I am waiting for a better video app myself.

DockRunner is a new free app that puts the Droid into the Dock Mode without the dock. That will give you a great alarm clock with the droid. You may even be able to have Locale kick it off whenever you are charging the phone (I don't know thought).

The video player in Android 2.0 is under the Gallery app. It is crude, but works. I am waiting for a better video app myself.

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Cool, Ill go find that Dockrunner, thanks. In regards to the Gallery app, where is the video player? I cant find it no matter what I tap, hold down or stare at without blinking?

Cool, Ill go find that Dockrunner, thanks. In regards to the Gallery app, where is the video player? I cant find it no matter what I tap, hold down or stare at without blinking?

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i've only been able to find it by actually going to a video and trying to play it. not sure how to open it by itself. meaning, go into gallery, click gallery videos, and then tap one - it should open in the default player.

but, i highly recommend meridian. free, and uses gestures (swipe right to fast forward, left to rewind, etc). and with that you can put an icon on your home screen

Also, in regards to the SD card, I liked how the blackberry gave you folders when connected to the computer. There is nothing like that on the Droid. I created folders on the SD card hoping it would work. It found the ringtones and pictures but not the videos(see prior complaint though). About that though, it would be nice if I could get into the folders on the actual phone for digging around purposes.

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if you connect the USB cable to your computer, and pull down the notification bar on the droid, and tap the USB notification you can mount the droid to your machine. then you can browse the SD card as you expect (i think this is what you're looking for).

to do the same on the phone i recommend astro file explorer or an app called "explorer", i have both installed and they both work great for exploring your phone and sdcards. and then from there, you can find a video on your SD card (if they're not showing up in your gallery for any reason) and play from there.

Really tough to switch to vibrate mode from loud mode if you went into a meeting or something. I also cant just assign ring to phone and vibrate to everything else. Maybe its there or I need another app, but I'm just saying whats bugging me so far.

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sorry for the triple post, since it's new information i figured i'd add it as a new reply in case anyone has a subscription and wouldn't otherwise see the update.

i use an app called quick settings, which puts an icon in your notification bar for very easy access to a lot of common functions. with it you can quickly turn on wifi, bluetooth, gps etc. you can also set volumes independent of each other - ringer and notification volumes are separate in this app.

you can also do that out of the box in the default settings, i'll find the exact steps to how, give me 5 minutes.

edit: i remembered where it was. i still recommend quick settings, but, to control ringer and notifications independently do this:

Welcome to the Droid, I switched after 8 yrs of BB usage on cingular/AT&T. Most phones iphone, win mo, nokia, that I have tried have me crawling back to the berry in under a week. Not so with this device and OS, yes you do give a few things up as you noted, overall the positives out weigh the negative and the OS is years ahead of BB.

You will have the urge to pull your battery for old time sake, you don't have to do it with the droid but if it makes you feel more secure just go ahead and pull it then take a deep breath and enjoy your droid

I think a lot of people are getting the switching from 1x to 3G but are hoping for that to be one of the fixes coming through on the Dec. 11th update. I know for me, I'm going to call and take it back if the update doesn't fix the issue. I just want to be double sure I didn't get a defective unit.

I think a lot of people are getting the switching from 1x to 3G but are hoping for that to be one of the fixes coming through on the Dec. 11th update. I know for me, I'm going to call and take it back if the update doesn't fix the issue. I just want to be double sure I didn't get a defective unit.

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I have this issue at home. I figure if it continues, I'm going to call and gripe and see if I can get one of the home unit things at a good discount.

sorry for the triple post, since it's new information i figured i'd add it as a new reply in case anyone has a subscription and wouldn't otherwise see the update.

i use an app called quick settings, which puts an icon in your notification bar for very easy access to a lot of common functions. with it you can quickly turn on wifi, bluetooth, gps etc. you can also set volumes independent of each other - ringer and notification volumes are separate in this app.

you can also do that out of the box in the default settings, i'll find the exact steps to how, give me 5 minutes.

edit: i remembered where it was. i still recommend quick settings, but, to control ringer and notifications independently do this:

you should now have two sliders. note: if you do install quick settings, you still have to do this once to "separate" the sounds. then you can control them independently from quick settings.

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There's also the power widget that will switch a lot of things off and on. It doesn't have anything to handle the sounds, but I did find another widget that switches between audio, vibrate and silent with just a touch. Forgot what it was called.

I think a lot of people are getting the switching from 1x to 3G but are hoping for that to be one of the fixes coming through on the Dec. 11th update. I know for me, I'm going to call and take it back if the update doesn't fix the issue. I just want to be double sure I didn't get a defective unit.

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There is one report of improved reception, along with improved battery life. There was a direct correlation with people having a poor signal...I'm hoping for more confirmations of the updating "improving reception".

Regarding the OP, I agree with AT&T service being slammed "because of the iPhone's poor reception". I have a Motorola Q on AT&T, and from New England to North Carolina, I've hit 2 dead spots, both on the highway. As far as the Droid, I have "dropped connection" (i.e.- poor reception for voice and data) in 5 spots "so far" in my town alone, which has at least (3) Verizon stores, where my Q pretty much stays on 4 (full) bars. I think its the Droid.

There is one report of improved reception, along with improved battery life. There was a direct correlation with people having a poor signal...I'm hoping for more confirmations of the updating "improving reception".

Regarding the OP, I agree with AT&T service being slammed "because of the iPhone's poor reception". I have a Motorola Q on AT&T, and from New England to North Carolina, I've hit 2 dead spots, both on the highway. As far as the Droid, I have "dropped connection" (i.e.- poor reception for voice and data) in 5 spots "so far" in my town alone, which has at least (3) Verizon stores, where my Q pretty much stays on 4 (full) bars. I think its the Droid.

Honestly, I couldnt deal with the problems on the network and the fact that I kept trying to find apps that could make the phone work like my BB....soo....

I ended up going back to ATT and got the new Bold 9700. I liked the droid but I can live without most of it. I love the fact that the BB works perfectly and its 10x faster than my old Bold. I sure miss the large screen for web browsing of the Droid but the moment I switched back everyone said I sounded so much better than thanked me for getting rid of the Droid/Verizon.

I did really like the Android OS and cant wait for something to come to ATT so I can get it again.

Nice review! I've been a BB user for about 6 years now. I recently decided to try Droid. The only thing I don't like is the gmail app. Have you noticed that whenever you reply/forward back and forth, gmail tends to delete the history of email/tread? Any way to fix this issue? or is it just me....

So far moving from BB (Storm), I'm loving Droid. It's faster, while the messaging is not as robust, the fact that I can finally browse my school's website for course content over the blackberry is a deal breaker for me. The blackberry browser (even the third party ones such as Bolt and Skyfire(? I think that's the name)), are just garbage when compared to Dolphin and even the stock browser. While I wish I could get a keyboard like my storm's suretype, I can live with the physical keyboard since it is extremely nice for typing passwords and such.

DockRunner is a new free app that puts the Droid into the Dock Mode without the dock. That will give you a great alarm clock with the droid. You may even be able to have Locale kick it off whenever you are charging the phone (I don't know thought).

The video player in Android 2.0 is under the Gallery app. It is crude, but works. I am waiting for a better video app myself.

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for video app I use act1 or it might be act one, either or it works great. it allows you to exit and resume the movie later or just start from the begining.

I'm still a BB user who also has a Moto Droid. I've only had mine a week but my satisfaction is growing each day. No show stoppers yet. Good voice, signal strength is tracking right long with the V Storm 2.

So far, like you, the ONLY thing I'm missing from BB is the ring profiles. I have yet to find a non-BB device that has the flexibility of a BB when assigning ring tones.

For those not familiar, this is how I use ring profiles:

At night I set the phone to "Silent" mode so I no wrong #s at 2 a.m. But I need my family and friends to be able to reach me.

I have 2 "groups", one "Family" and one "Friends". I set the ring tone and volume for those two groups and the phone will follow this profile no matter the "silent" mode of the phone. Takes just a few seconds to activate. Can even include "messages" (email, SMS) for these groups.

On the Droid I can set the ring tone to "Silent", then set a ringtone for each contact. So it is doable but more tedious.